GarageGames Looking to Fund New Studios in Austin, Vancouver, and Seattle for InstantAction.com Titles

Eugene, OR, October 14, 2008 – GarageGames, creators of InstantAction.com, the website for gamers that combines the intensity of videogames with the accessibility of the web, have announced that they are looking to fund new startup studios working on original IP for InstantAction and other platforms.

“We’re seeing a lot of larger studios cutting back on costs and thus forced to let go of great talent,” said Josh Williams, CEO of GarageGames. “There’s always opportunity for good developers to start anew and we’re looking to give these guys a shot to get back to their roots on a small team making games for a cutting edge platform.”

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VANCOUVER – Fit Brains today announced a new strategic partnership with Prevention.com, the top online health magazine site. The partnership will expand Prevention’s game offerings to include the engaging and scientifically developed brain fitness games by Fit Brains.

With more than 1.7 million unique visitors, Prevention.com is one of the top online destinations for women seeking health, fitness and beauty tips and advice. The new partnership will add to the brain training games channel of Prevention.com, offering a greater variety. Users can access the online brain exercise routine by visiting www.prevention.com/braingames.
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Australia’s Plastic Wax has unveiled their collaboration with leading Vancouver developer Relic to produce the first Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II trailer, which recently debuted. The trailer can be seen now on the official Dawn of War II web site.

“It was our mission to make sure gamers’ first impressions of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II was flawless,” said Owen Hurley, Director of Animations and Cinematics with Relic. “To give fans a taste of where Relic’s latest masterpiece is going, both in terms of action and visuals, we needed an extended cinematic that brought frenzied battles to life unlike anything that has ever been seen before. Plastic Wax delivered big time.”

Trailer Screenshot

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the far distant future. The 41st millennium is a dark, forbidding place, ravaged by thousands of years of conflict. Across this gothic universe huge armies struggle for victory in a battle to the death. Visualizing action on this scale for two and half minutes required a depth of skill and resources rarely found at traditional animation houses.

“Bringing the amazing Warhammer 40,000 universe from Games Workshop to life was a huge honor for our studio,” said Nathan Maddams, Creative Director, Plastic Wax. “This project gave us a unique opportunity to partner with the talented folks at Relic to give gamers the first peek at what will be the premiere RTS game of the year.”

Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that it will continue in the studio’s long tradition of delivering powerful content-creations to the gaming community by releasing the Dragon Age™ Toolset. BioWare will be presenting the Dragon Age™ Toolset at the Penny Arcade Expo in the Washington State Convention & Trade Center today through Sunday. Designed specifically for the highly-anticipated Role-playing PC game Dragon Age™: Origins, the Dragon Age Toolset provides players with developer-grade tools that will allow them to produce their own content.

Attendees of the Penny Arcade Expo will be the first ever to see the new toolset in action as BioWare will provide a live demonstration of some of its exciting features and capabilities. The Dragon Age Toolset will be part of a stage demonstration during the Penny Arcade Expo at 1:30pm, August 31, on the main stage at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Washington.

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Edmonton – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced that it will continue in the studio’s long tradition of delivering powerful content-creations to the gaming community by releasing the Dragon Age™ Toolset. BioWare will be presenting the Dragon Age™ Toolset at the Penny Arcade Expo in the Washington State Convention & Trade Center today through Sunday. Designed specifically for the highly-anticipated Role-playing PC game Dragon Age™: Origins, the Dragon Age Toolset provides players with developer-grade tools that will allow them to produce their own content.

Attendees of the Penny Arcade Expo will be the first ever to see the new toolset in action as BioWare will provide a live demonstration of some of its exciting features and capabilities. The Dragon Age Toolset will be part of a stage demonstration during the Penny Arcade Expo at 1:30pm, August 31, on the main stage at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Washington.

Key features include:

Create Original Adventures – Using the rich set of Dragon Age assets and locations as starting blocks, users can modify these stunning areas by adding new quests, characters and scripting to craft their own adventures, fate-defining conversations and cut-scenes.
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Toronto, Canada – August 27, 2008 –Today leading computer game publisher Lighthouse Interactive, part of SilverBirch Inc.’s video game division, and developer Nitro Games, released six never-before-seen screenshots for East India Company. These print quality screenshots highlight the three basic gameplay elements: strategy, combat and trade. Scheduled to release in Q1 2009, this dynamic real-time strategy war game for Windows® PC is based on the exploits and adventures of the infamous 18th century East India Companies. It challenges players to build the World’s most powerful trading empire as they engage in fierce open sea battles in both single player and multiplayer modes.

GAME SUMMARY

In East India Company, players will assume the role of Governor Director of one of the East India Companies or other rival companies. There are eight nationalities to choose from: British, Dutch, French, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, Italian or Spanish – with the goal of bringing new colonies and wealth such as: tea, spices, gold, diamonds and other precious cargo back to Europe, but they must dominate the other rival empires along the way. Wars will be waged and blood will be spilled. Players will also conquer the open sea and explore 40 different cities, towns and villages. Starting modestly, you will build your fleet, establish connections to far away countries, and keep the rivaling nations at bay. Choose from an array of ship classes and types of transport and military vessels: small sloops, schooners, brigantines, frigates and ship-of-the-line. Create different fleets and assign them to specific trading routes. Controlling well situated ports and upgrading them is one key to success.

Conflicts and wars are inevitable. When hostile fleets engage each other, the spectacular naval battles are fought at a real-time tactical level. Devastating broadsides are fired with a deafening roar and cannon balls tear through enemy ships and their crew. At a tactical level, you have direct command over your ship and give independent orders to each of your other fleets. Fight against the other European powers to create a trading empire that will rule above all others!

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Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today unveiled new details of Need for Speed™ Undercover, the intense action racing game scheduled for release worldwide this November. Need for Speed Undercover has players racing through speedways, dodging cops and chasing rivals as they go deep undercover to take down an International crime syndicate. The new game heralds the return of high-intensity police chases and introduces the all-new ‘Heroic Driving Engine’ — a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway battles.

“Need for Speed Undercover puts you at the center of a big-budget Hollywood movie with all of the drama, action and dazzling chase scenes, right on your gaming console. The unique Heroic Driving Engine will give you ultimate control over the hottest cars and push you to use every ounce of skill to outrun the law and take down criminal adversaries,” said Executive Producer Bill Harrison.

A mix of stunning computer graphics and live-action movies will immerse gamers in the rich world of the Tri-City Bay Area. The city’s open-world environment features over 80 miles of roads, including an enormous highway system that sets the stage for heart-pounding highway battles. These high-speed, high-stake chase sequences will push players to the limit as they fight off cops and opponents while whipping through traffic at 180 miles per hour.
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Details and facts about the upcoming addition to the Crash Bandicoot franchise were released this week at GC Leipzig.

Publisher Sierra Entertainment
Category Action
Developer Radical Entertainment
Format Xbox360, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP

Product Overview
In Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, a rejuvenated Neo Cortex is taking over the world one brain at a time! Cortex and N. Brio devise a new kind of evil; a text-messaging, do-anything device which controls both mutant and bandicoot minds. Armed with his quick-wits and lightening agility, Crash must free his friends, the titans and save the day!
Product Features
• Mutant in Your Pocket! – Not only does Crash keep the ability to control his enemies when he jacks them – now he can store his favorite monsters in his pocket, upgrade them and utilize their powers when they are most advantageous

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Press Release – Toronto, July 29, 2008 – SilverBirch Studios, a member of the SilverBirch Inc. ( TSX-V: SVB ) group of digital media companies, today announced that N+, a DS and PSP game to be released by Atari, Inc. in August, has won two awards at the recently concluded 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit in Los Angeles.

N+ won best PSP game of show awarded by GamingExcellence and separately won the best handheld game of show awarded by the Blast Magazine. N+ is a physics-based platformer in which a player assumes the role of a ninja who by running and jumping has to make his way to a door while collecting gold, avoiding attackers and fighting the clock.

“This is obviously a great honor for us,” said Wojtek Kawczynski, Senior Vice President, SilverBirch Studios. “Winning two awards at E3 further validates the quality of N+ and is a reflection of the passion that went into the making of the game.”
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Press Release – Paul Thelen, founder and chief strategy officer of Big Fish Games™, the world’s largest casual games distributor, today revealed new research that challenges the conventional thinking about audience profiles in the video game industry. The results of a recent study show gamers can no longer be classified into the traditional archetypes of core and casual fans due to the rapid diversification of the demographics, game styles, business models and platforms in the U.S. games market.

In partnership with NPD Group, Big Fish Games surveyed nearly 3,000 U.S. individuals who play games, and matched the results across demographics, game mechanics, and psychographics. The study identified 14 distinct segments of gamers within 39 genres of games. The casual market was segmented into 10 distinct groups, while four segments were identified within the traditional core market. However, the segmentation calls into question the relevancy of the terms casual and core, due to a great deal of overlap and similarity between various casual and core segments once thought to be disparate.
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